A heat exchanger is a device that can facilitate heat transfer between two mediums. Heat exchangers can have many applications, including being used in vehicles for the purpose of heating/cooling oil, such as engine oil and/or transmission oil. For example, in a conventional operation, oil from an engine enters into a heat exchanger, which also has a liquid coolant passing through. The liquid coolant cools the oil within the heat exchanger, before the oil is returned to the engine. In the same way, transmission oil may be cooled in a vehicle.
Some heat exchangers provide a single housing for heat exchange of multiple fluids with liquid coolant, such as both transmission oil and engine oil in a vehicle. Such heat exchangers can have multiple different flow cores within the single housing. One of the challenges of such heat exchangers is that the fluid flowing through the single housing can have a detrimental impact on the different flow cores within the housing. For example, the fluid flowing through the single housing and contacting the flow cores where heat exchange takes place, can lead to corrosion due to impact of the fluid. This can also affect the performance of a vehicle and also effect fuel efficiency.
There is a need in the art for a heat exchanger apparatus that is used for heat exchange of multiple fluids with liquid coolant, such as both engine oil and transmission oil, and that can help to improve performance of a vehicle, such as by improving fuel efficiency and that can provide improved transmission and engine oil warm-up. In addition, there is a need in the art for a heat exchanger apparatus that can be used for heat exchange of multiple fluids with liquid coolant, like engine and transmission oils, and that can help to reduce the extent of corrosion that takes place due to the fluids flowing in the heat exchanger apparatus.